Two Democrats square off in race for Santa Barbara County’s District 1 seat
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- March 3rd’s primary election is just over a weekend away and two Democratic candidates are vying for your support on Super Tuesday in Santa Barbara County’s District 1.
The race is between incumbent Das Williams and President of the Santa Barbara School Board Laura Capps.
They’re hot button topics for voters and the two candidates for supervisor… the high cost of living in California, the marijuana debate, and the environment.
Williams said, “Right now I would say our legacy policies, particularly in housing, are unfriendly to young people and people of color being able to stay here because of the economics of housing.”
Capps said, “I want to change that. I want us to address poverty head on. I want us to have a better housing for workforce. So many things that we could be doing. There’s state and federal dollars we’re leaving on the table everyday because we’re not accessing the programs.”
When it comes to housing, both candidates have plans. Both candidates support cannabis, but have different opinions.
Capps said, “Unfortunately my opponent took $80,000 dollars from the corporate cannabis industry, while writing the most lenient laws in the entire state here and that’s what we’re experiencing. I’m not surprised there’s a lawsuit. Because the people, especially the people of Carpinteria, they’re suffering. They have to air out their classrooms every morning in order for kids to breathe. And we’ve gone too far.”
Williams countered with, “An ironic issue my opponent brings up because her reason for running is to curtail the marijuana industry, which right now is providing 5,000 jobs in the county with an average wage of $63,000, actually $65,000 dollars. And that’s a substantial increase in an ag sector for folks who were getting paid close to minimum wage a few years back.”
The South Coast is no stranger to natural disasters, and both Williams and Capps have plans to deal with climate change.
For more information on each candidate you can visit their website. You can find Das Williams here and Laura Capps here.
